Criminals with VIP links held
From Syed Ali Ahmed

NEW DELHI, Sept 9 — Kishan Kumar, alias Pehlwan, an inter-state criminal and his accomplices, who were allegedly helped by Punjab and Haryana politicians to escape, were arrested by the Delhi police today from Rajokri village near Vasant Kunj in South-West Delhi.

Kishan Kumar who belonged to Digchaon Kalan village in West Delhi, was allegedly provided shelter in Haryana and Chandigarh by a well-known leader of the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Haryana and in Himachal Pradesh by the son of a politician from Punjab, Special Commissioner of Intelligence of the Delhi police, Mr Ramakrishnan said.

However, Mr Ramakrishnan did not disclose the name of the politician who had given shelter to Kishan Kumar.

The other accomplices of Kishan Kumar also had links with important political leaders of Haryana and Delhi. Kishan Kumar and his accomplices reportedly used to stay in the houses of Haryana and Punjab politicians, Mr Ramarishnan said.

He did not rule out the arrest of the politicians for harbouring criminals if found guilty.

He said Kishan Kumar's area of operation was Delhi and Haryana. His gang armed with sophisticated weapons was involved in murders, attempt to murders and extortion cases.

Kishan Kumar was allegedly recognised as the undisputed leader of "tender mafia" in the areas of North West, South and South-West Delhi. His gang also intervened in cases of property disputes to arrive to an amicable settlement.

During interrogation Kishan Kumar disclosed that he had a feud with another gang led by Balraj of Delhi. Both gangs had indulged in shoot outs resulting in the death of their kin and other members of the gangs.

Since Kishan Kumar was the most wanted criminal of the Capital, a team of the Delhi police traced his movements in Haryana, Chandigarh and at some places in Himachal Pradesh. However, he along with his accomplices, was arrested from Rajokri village near Vasant Kunj in South-West Delhi.

The gangsters were in a Honda City car when they were noticed at Rajokri village. When the police team asked them to stop, they reportedly fired at the police team. The police returned the fire. However, nobody was injured. The accomplices of Kishan Kumar were identified as Satpal, alias Kala of Sonepat, Kishan Kumar and Jitender Kumar of Hisar, Surinder Kumar, Virender, alias Bindal, Aman Singh, Kuldeep Singh of Delhi. Three cell phones, one 9mm pistol, one 7.63 bore pistol, one .38 bore pistol, one .315 pistol and five spent and 27 live cartridges were recovered from them, the Special Commissioner of Intelligence said.

Kishan Kumar and his gang allegedly received 5 per cent of the total contract money if they succeeded in getting the contract in favour of the contractor who had approached them.

Apart from bribe from the contractors, Kishan Kumar and his accomplices indulged in extorting money from a number of businessmen. The extorted money was reportedly invested in purchasing disputed properties at very low rates in the Delhi areas adjoining Haryana.

In 1992 Kishan Kumar along with Rajesh shot dead Jasbir at Sultanpuri in Bahadurgarh. The same year he was involved in an attempt to murder case in the Civil Lines area of Rohtak and a murder case of a constable of the Delhi police in the Capital, the Special Commissioner said.